Gerhard Zeiler (born 20 July 1955) is an Austrian businessman who is the current president of Warner Bros. Discovery International, part of Warner Bros. Discovery. [1] Before taking up the role at Turner/Warner, Mr Zeiler was chief executive officer of the German media company RTL Group and a member of the executive board of Bertelsmann, the media conglomerate that owns the RTL Group.
Zeiler was born in Ottakring, Vienna, to Hans and Dorothea Zeiler. He was the first born of identical twins. [2]
His early education took place in his native Vienna, after which he studied psychology, sociology and educational science at the University of Vienna. [3]
Zeiler has worked in television for 23 years – eight in the public service broadcasting sector; the remainder in commercial television. [4]
His former employer, RTL Group, operates 40 TV channels in 10 countries, and owns FremantleMedia, a content and production company that operates in 25 countries and exports its programming to over 150 countries. [4]
After graduating, Zeiler began his early career working as a scientific assistant at the Austrian Institute for Occupational Research. [5] After three years at the institute, his career took a change of direction when he began working as a freelance journalist. In 1979 he was appointed press spokesman for the then Austrian minister for education and the arts, Dr Fred Sinowatz. He followed Dr Sinowatz to the federal chancellor's office in 1983, going on to work for federal chancellor Dr Franz Vranitzky. [6]
In 1986, Zeiler became secretary general of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) in Vienna. Despite being only 24, Zeiler had already realised that "television is part of my life". [2]
In 1991, he moved to Munich when he was appointed CEO of German commercial TV channel, Tele 5. In 1992 he became CEO of RTL II. Two years later, in 1994, Zeiler returned to Vienna when he was appointed CEO of ORF. [5]
In November 1998, Zeiler joined RTL Group, being appointed CEO of RTL Television in Cologne. He succeeded Helmut Thoma. [3] The role gave him responsibility for the German television channels RTL Television, Vox, RTL II, Super RTL, and N-TV.
In March 2003 Zeiler became CEO of RTL Group. [5] In 2005, he passed the management of RTL Television to Anke Schäferkordt, so that he could focus solely on the company's international entertainment network.
Zeiler has been a member of the executive board of Bertelsmann AG since October 2005. He is also a member of the supervisory boards of Groupe M6 in France and RTL Television in Germany, and vice chairman of the board of the Greek Alpha Media Group.
In August 2010, Zeiler's contract was renewed until the end of 2015. [2] On April 18, 2012, Zeiler left RTL "by mutual and amicable agreement" and "at his own request" to take over the international business at Turner Broadcasting System. [7]
In April 2012, Zeiler became president of the Turner Broadcasting System International group, WarnerMedia's TV subsidiary, which also operates channels such as Turner Network Television (TNT), Cartoon Network and CNN. Zeiler's new activities include responsibility for all entertainment and children's channels and associated media services outside North America, as well as the distribution and commercial activities of CNN International. This is 130 channels in more than 200 countries with 3800 employees and $2 billion in revenue. In March 2019, WarnerMedia's new CEO, John Stankey, also put him in charge of the company's entire advertising business. The latter's successor, Jason Kilar, made Zeiler head of WarnerMedia's reorganized international division. Zeiler is responsible for WarnerMedia's entire international business, as well as program production for all stations, including the new streaming service HBO Max, on an international level. [8]
From 2002 to 2004, Zeiler was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, [9] which holds a majority in Bertelsmann. [10]
Zeiler is a member of the Steering Committee [11] of the Bilderberg Group, a private, annual gathering of intellectual figures, political leaders, and business executives.
Zeiler is often outspoken in his views on the value of television as a medium, despite often challenging evidence to the contrary. In a 2010 interview with Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad , Zeiler commented on the recovery of the television advertising market in 2010. "In Western Europe, our channels are now performing at the same level as in 2008… [12]
He is convinced that advertisers believe in the effectiveness of television – "TV is bigger than ever" – and believes "Television will remain the mass medium – the only medium capable of assembling truly mass audiences". [13]
Zeiler has long been a strong supporter of British television. Speaking at the 2009 worldview address in Edinburgh, he said European television makers had a huge amount to learn from the UK. [13]
He is one of the few non-British recipients of the Royal Television Society (RTS) fellowship, [14] and was chair of the 2008 RTS international conference 'Opportunity Knocks'. [15]
He believes "Britain is an incredible centre for talent, creativity and ideas", and that even the US networks look to the UK for inspiration. He went on to say, "British production companies are the absolute best in the world when it comes to non-scripted, non-fiction formats".
Zeiler has also been outspoken in his support of calls to relax UK product placement rules, to help struggling commercial broadcasters. [16] He believes, "Product placement is a commercial fact of life… Carefully regulated product placement is a legitimate revenue stream and the money raised could be used to support the production of original content – content viewers want to watch".
Summarising his objective for RTL for the future, Zeiler commented: "We are developing our broadcasting operations into digital TV families with a presence on all new platforms. We will systematically meet the rising demand for attractive content and expand our production arm, FremantleMedia, with new talent, new formats and by doing business in new markets". [2]
In 2004, Zeiler was voted media personality of the year at the Mipcom audiovisual content trade show in Cannes. The award came at a time when RTL Group continued to set new records, despite the crisis evident in the media sector. [2]
In January 2011, Zeiler will become the first non-American to receive NATPE's Brandon Tartikoff legacy award. [17] Named after arguably one of television's greatest programmers, the award was created to recognise television professionals who exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming.
Zeiler shares the eighth annual award with Dick Ebersol, Mary Hart and Regis Philbin.
Commenting on the award, Rick Feldman, NATPE president and CEO, said, "We believe that Dick, Mary, Regis and Gerhard have remarkably shaped the global television industry on both business and pop cultural levels, and truly embody the spirit of the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award".
Warner Media, LLC was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
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RTL Group is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The company operates 56 commercital and public television channels and 36 radio stations in Germany, France and other European countries. It also offers national streaming platforms, content productions and a range of digital services. Important segments of RTL Group are RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6, Fremantle, and RTL Nederland.
n-tv is a German free-to-air television news channel owned by the Bertelsmann Media's RTL Group. n-tv broadcasts news and weather every hour and half-hour in the morning. It also broadcasts magazine shows and documentaries.
Fremantle is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in 1994. Pearson Television was renamed FremantleMedia on 20 August 2001, following the 2000 merger of Pearson Television and Bertelsmann's CLT-UFA to form the RTL Group.
Super RTL is a German free-to-air television network owned by the RTL Group. The channel originally launched in 1995 as a joint venture between RTL Group predecessor company CLT-UFA and Disney's Buena Vista International Television Investments division.
MIPTV is an event which takes place annually in Cannes, France, using the facilities and infrastructure which the town has developed over the years to host other important events such as the Cannes Film Festival amongst other events.
Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) is a media and entertainment company that operates television channels in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Until its acquisition by PPF Group N.V. in October 2020, the company was listed on NASDAQ and Prague Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CETV. It has since been delisted.
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Metropole Télévision SA, commonly known as Groupe M6, is a French media holding company. It was formed around the commercial television channel M6, launched in March 1987 by the CLT and La Lyonnaise des Eaux.
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Anke Schäferkordt is a German businessperson who served as CEO of the RTL Group from 2012 until 2017. Besides that, she won the International Emmy Award for Directorate Award in 2013.
RTL Deutschland is a German media company based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was founded in 2007 as a holding company for the German television, broadcasting and content production businesses of the RTL Group, which is majority-owned by Bertelsmann.
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Warner Bros. Discovery International, formerly known as Turner Broadcasting System International and WarnerMedia International, is an international unit of Warner Bros. Discovery led by president Gerhard Zeiler.
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